Post Game Rambling
Posted: November 26th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 191 Comments »Just some thoughts bouncing around my head tonight.
* You wonder if the worst thing for the OL is Jason Peters trying to play. The OL played well against Dallas. Then Peters was in and out of practice, but sat out the Miami game. He played part of the Tampa game and then sat late. Peters was in and out of practice this week. He then got hurt in the game and missed the rest. Lane Johnson is shuffling back and forth from RT to LT and back to RT. That’s tough. Dennis Kelly goes from backup to RT to backup to RT.
The best thing for the OL might be to stick with Johnson and Kelly until Peters is fully healthy. The line is best when the players practice together and have stability and chemistry.
* I feel bad for Nolan Carroll getting hurt, but there is something to be said for forcing Eric Rowe into the lineup. He has played well at times this year and struggled at others. Give him a full week of training and let’s see what he can do. It would be great to have an idea of where he stands as we think about the future. Carroll is a try-hard guy with limited upside. The coaches think Rowe can be very good once he adjusts to the NFL and hones his CB skills.
* How much does the defense miss Jordan Hicks? DeMeco Ryans has the brain, but not the body anymore. Mychal Kendricks is incredibly gifted, but is too out of control. Kiko Alonso is all over the place. Hicks did a good job of running the defense and making plays. He might have been a rookie, but had the presence of a veteran. The play of the other ILBs is very disappointing.
* One of the big problems for this defense is tackling. That was an issue early in 2013, but the coaches worked on it over and over and the team tackled fairly from that point on. There are 3 main problems as I see it. First, technical stuff. Players aren’t always taking good angles to the ball. You have to be in proper position to make a tackle. Technique is also a problem. There is too much grabbing and reaching. You need to wrap up with your arms and make a strong, physical tackle.
I think too many players are going for the strip. Byron Maxwell is the worst at this. Secure the tackle, then go for the ball. He is going for the ball too much. The final issue, which has only surfaced the last 2 weeks, is effort. As these games get out of hand, the score affects the players intensity. That’s human nature, but it needs to stop. The players need to show great effort no matter the score.
* You normally don’t want to overreact to one or two games, but the Eagles have been historically bad the last 2 weeks and that’s what is so crazy.
The 2015 Eagles and the 1968 Patriots are the only teams to lose consecutive games to teams below .500 by at least 28 points (@EliasSports)
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 27, 2015
The #Eagles are the fifth team in the modern era to have back-to-back games giving up 45-plus points and 430-plus yards.
— Dave Zangaro (@DZangaroCSN) November 26, 2015
I mean…wow.
* At least Dallas lost again. I’m not happy Tony Romo got hurt. You never cheer for injuries. But seeing that team continue to lose is always fun. Are they dealing with football karma for signing Greg Hardy?
_
These “ramblings” are nice, but the big picture is that Chip has put Lurie (admittedly, a very weak CEO) in a tough spot…
Circumstances and performance suggest Kelly should certainly be let go, but that means starting over, and the Eagles have A LOT invested in Chip and his way of doing things; i.e., damned if you do, damned if you don’t. I’m guessing Lurie will do little if anything, but Chip appears to be trying REALLY hard to force his hand.
Lurie is the owner, and I will take him any day over 90% of his colleagues. His hands-off approach and his community orientation are commendable. He may be relatively outside the norm when viewed in comparison to his brethren, but that is okay in my book. What you mean by “weak” I can only guess, but he is not likely to cave to the sentiments of loud, impatient fans, experts and media. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that a life-long football coach with a record of success and innovation has a learning curve in the fish bowl that is the NFL. These are the best on the Planet. Two seasons of 10-6 may have been a bit of beginner’s luck, but his determination to exceed that mediocrity is precisely why Lurie brought him here. We can only speculate, but perhaps Kelly’s “control” is taxing him to whittle over “perfect” decisions that will yield “perfect” results. I hope that Lurie is considering altering the terms of Kelly’s personnel responsibilities, because they may be undermining his ability to meet his HC responsibilities. I have to admit that I find the approachability and poise of the players impressive, but I will take moody and miserable if they can block and tackle.
Frank Schwab wrote a piece for Yahoo basically warning that Kelly is close to losing his players and his job, but he defended the coach for a respectable record despite the absence of a competent QB. I’m thinking that the high tempo and the abusive wear on the defense may be luxuries that can only be enjoyed when a capable QB is guiding the offense. The sub-par QB play can be viewed as only part of the overall collapse, but it can also be viewed as the valve that broke which caused a flood. Miscues and players over-reaching and trying to compensate for perceived weaknesses of others is a recipe for disaster. I am still in favor of more patience with Bradford, but his play this season has contributed to the team’s position – no question.
The measure of the coach and the team and the owner is what they take away from this major disappointment. I cannot abide any rash decisions in the heat of the moment.
what a crock of poo you just wrote
what a brilliant response..your intelligent addition to the conversation is appreciated
Thank you. I was starting to believe there are no rational fans out there. I will take Lurie over Jerry the Jerk any day. Chip will get another year and Bradford will be back if he continues to improve. I hope for the sake of the franchise, Chip can learn from his mistakes, but if GM responsibilities are taken away, I think he walks.
You and your fellow upvoters are delusional, and wearing exactly the type of blinders J Lurie would hope you would wear. Lurie is in fact a very weak CEO (see his handling of the org structure at the end of last season). And Chip is either incompetent (my belief), or he’s trying to act that way in order to get fired (not out of the realm of possibility).
I will respectfully disagree. Lurie is not weak, he just understands his role. A weak CEO would cave to the public and fire Kelly and the staff after a mid-season stumble. An over-agressive CEO would mettle in the team affairs. Lurie made what he thought was the best possible decision and most of us agreed. The decision needs to be seen through to its conclusion, good or bad.
Kelly will learn from this season. It is what he does and has demonstrated. His approaches are grounded in study and data and I am sure he changes more than most realize. I would much rather have Kelly here as he tries to apply ‘his lessons learned’ than elsewhere. And I am sure Lurie would too. After all, Lurie spent millions on Kelly and it would suck to have that investment pay dividends elsewhere.
Lurie is in fact a very weak CEO (see his handling of the org structure at the end of last season). And Chip is either incompetent (my belief), or he’s trying to act that way in order to get fired (not out of the realm of possibility).
As far as “historically bad” goes, yes that’s a gnarly stat, but the team at least has four wins. Lots of teams have done worse than that. Let’s not pretend as though this is a historically bad team. It’s not.
I think the biggest mistake that could possibly occur would be if Chip were no longer in charge next year. Ugly wins or not, he is a winner in the NFL in the first year of a major (and 100% necessary) rebuild. A few of his higher profile moves have misfired but in general I love the personnel decisions he’s made, and he will only get better as he continues to learn the process. He’s experienced some really bad luck this season — that kind of stuff regresses to the mean.
The “fire Chip” mob that has arisen is really gross in its short sightedness and ultimate destructiveness. Chip has lost three games in a row with his backup and the media is gleefully calling for his head. Jason Garrett lost seven in a row with his backup and the media picked his squad to beat the undefeated Panthers. I wish the rest of the media would keep things in perspective as well as you do, Tommy.
Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
Jason Garrett is a puppet yes man for an egomaniacal owner/gm. No quality coach would want to be in that atmosphere. And the cowboy team last year was better than any Eagles product since 2010 at best.
I really wanted Kelly to succeed but the whole transition to his becoming the GM was so bizarre and poorly executed. The Frank Gore thing was weird too. At this point I don’t see how Kelly can turn this around. He really hasn’t shown huge adaptability as his time here has gone, has become more set and stubborn.
I agree with you Barry. I commented in a response above that Chip will learn from this season. It is what he does. The greatest ‘risk’ for Lurie and the team is to move on from Chip and he applies those lessons to another team. The best executives, coaches, etc., all make mistakes, the best learn and move forward.
If Kelly starts repeating mistakes, then it is time to move on.
Here is an interesting thought – of all the personnel decisions Kelly made, looking back at the players he parted ways with, were they elite talent or did Kelly make them that way. DeSean certainly has not put up elite numbers in Washingtion and had a career year under Kelly, Maclin has looked mediocre in KC, Foles was benched, as was Herremans and Cole. McCoy will still have his two best seasons under Kelly. Mathis is about the only head scratcher.
If the coach is that bad, how come none of the ‘elite’ players he cut are having anything close to elite?
Chip will learn from this season? It’s what he does?
What lessons did Chip learn from last season? That Foles wasn’t The Guy? Has he shown any insight into fixing his own faults the past two offseasons?
You are both right. Chip is very willing to learn and change his thinking, as long as it doesn’t interfere with a core value. Unfortunately his core values seem flawed and he has proven VERY unwilling to learn that.
I want to share this sentiment, and I do, I think(?). If Chip is fired, who takes his place? The problem is if Chip has lost the team (and it sure seems he has), I don’t think he ever fully takes them back. It’s like a dog that realizes it can bite its owner to get its way. He may not bite you for years, but put him in the right situation and he is gonna get ya.
Just feel hopeless…
Thinking critically about rosters / injuries i’m not surprised this team is bad. Lots of starters hurt, no continuity and it’s just snowballing.
I don’t think the players believe sanchez can get them Ws.
Seems to me that coordinators have to go. Both OC/DC weren’t successful guys getting a promoting they were demoted guys. Looking at what Chicago is doing w/ much better coaches and must less talent is sort of damning. I think it’s Chip’s MO not to make moves during the year but maybe that should change.
I wasn’t surprised, especially with injuries, that we’re only halfway through a rebuild personnel-wise, but I now think chip has to rethink the whole program/the way he does things this offseason.
I hope this mini bye allows people to regroup. Sanchez said ‘if you aren’t going to come back w/ a good attitude don’t come back at all”. I think all this media stuff on a short week snowballed.
Kelce made some comments about cowards on the team. I gotta say Kelce made sort of snyde remarks when other players got the boot and i feel like his comments today were a little hypocritical.
Does stoutland have to go? I know Kelly wants an OL that can bully Dlines. How are the guys we have executing so poorly? How signed off on the guys we have being “good enough” to roll with.
Lions, Texans, Bears, Seattle, KC all clubs that started really slow and pulled out of it. Even players on STL aren’t giving up and they have no way to win games.
I’d love to see what a good DC can do with this team. There’s a lot of talent but these guys aren’t playing as a unit. Kendricks signing is looking meh b/c he doesn’t seem to want to get the mental side of the game. Unfortunately Kiko is right there with him.
Also Jenkins has one too many shoulder tackles in the hole, he’s missing a LOT of tackles trying to shoulder tackle. Wonder what his deal is, always thought he was a max-effort guy. He also had some complaining comments about playcalling tonight. I wonder if he’s done w/ Davis making him look bad.
Sad thing is we’re giving up so many points that the offense can’t even get going. It’s like we’re watching chip Kelly’s dream offensive situation except we’re on the other side.
I still really like watching this offense with sanchez. When it clicks it’s fun to get behind. PAT will be fun next week.
I was 100% with you until you said you liked watching the offense with Sanchez. Yuck!
I agree with you and thebarryman.
Here’s a thought question. Are Kendricks and Kiko 100%? I def don’t believe Kiko is, and I’m wondering about Kendricks.
I’m not sure Kiko is any good at all.
Kendricks seems to be fine, but like Tommy says, it doesn’t seem like he is focused in on the mental side of the game. Losing Hicks really was horrible.
How many years of watching Kendricks get crushed in pass coverage and miss tackles to we have to see before we have to acknowledge his mediocrity?
And what crack has Kiko been smoking all year?
I think the issue with Kiko is him and the coaches expected him to pick up where things left off when he got injured. So he’s jumped in without getting his feet under him, and probably scrambling too much to fix it.
It’s crazy how much we’re missing a 3rd round rookie right now.
i think kendricks is he’s just not playing disciplined football. i’d rather sit him for najee good.
Well as the old saying goes “No one is 100% during the season”. So honestly they don’t get any reprieve from this guy.
Neither is 100%. The team is pretty banged up as a whole. That doesn’t explain the blowouts though.,
The o-line is so bad. I don’t expect a lot from Sanchez at QB, but the block has been flat out horrible.
Should we read into JP’s quote: “I believe in [Kelly]. He’s my coach and we’re going to keep fighting for him as long as he’s here.”
Uggh. That doesn’t sound good at all. But nothing does when you are losing badly.
Reading into quote like this is the most interesting thing about this team right now.
My take might not be the obvious one or maybe it is. JP is JP so he is all-in on Chip, but knows lots of guys aren’t.
Would have been good to have Fangio as DC instead of Billy D
was just thinking that. CK is really loyal to his guys. Last year you could maybe say things were improving, and that rolled into the beginning of this year. But it’d be really nice to have a legit DC.
He has five more games to convince us all that he can be better. I doubt it though.
I expect changes there next year if not at the very least to shake things up.
I think what is happening now is the best thing for CK. He has to learn how to adjust faster and refine his dogmatic views about what works and what doesn’t.
I’m really trying to view this as a learning experience for CK, I just hope he does.
I can’t disagree with you. The problem is chip HASNT shown a hint of being willing to evolve and compromise his college philosophies..
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“we are from Philly and we fight”….. Chip today is a shell of that guy.
But all he did in college was evolve, experiment and look for ways to score points by any means necessary. They’ve cut down the playbook for Sanchez , tried to give him more defined reads to lower the chance of him throwing picks. They’ve simplified the run game to the bare bones, trying to help the O Line get some traction and do something well, which they could then build on. Chip’s team generally live on the IZR, everything works off of that play. But the line can’t be trusted to block inside, so they’ve had to try running on the perimeter. They moved Shady because they wanted to run between the tackles, and that plan is off the table. I think, and I’m guessing, that Chip and Stoutland didn’t love many of the linemen coming out of college. They thought with two years to coach them up, they’d be better off trying to “grow their own” offensive guards and it didn’t work. Peters has gone from most dependable to useless in 10 months when they thought they had two years before LJ had to switch sides. . Chip figures “I’ll lean on my run game while we rehab Sam. The defense will help take the pressure off the O for the first half of the season. Second half of the year, Sam is in the groove, we unleash the whole offense and away we go.” Then the O Line goes south. Injured and under performing, this meant he had to start letting Sam throw too much. He’s not ready to run the whole offense and the D stands up for 8 games, but cracks under the pressure. Now the whole thing is broken.
This is the way i see it too. You know what they say about the best laid plans.
Yeah, they fall on their a@$ and leave us at 4-7, but thanks for not murdering me because I don’t call for public flogging
Until Hicks injury we was a top 3 defense in the NFL, but seems the defense has fallen of since his injury.
Maybe in terms of stats or obscure PFFTODAVOA rankings, but with the eye test we most certainly did not have a top 3 defense.
The front 7 was dominating early and the safeties was playing like the best combo in the NFL
So…wait…you’re saying TOP does matter??
Cox and Logan was dominating, our last lineman(Changed a bit due to injuries) most certainly did not do any dominating.
Our front 7 was very good against the run, however from the Redskins game on yards pr. carry went of a cliff. Our front 7 was perfectly average when it came to rushing the passer, and maybe average is pushing it kindly.
Our LBs was decent in coverage. Maybe our safeties was very good, but our corners most certainly was not, and overall the coverage scheme or the interaction between coverage defenders, have not been good. Team have been able to throw on us all season, although to begin with we punished them with some turnovers. Having a great safety pair did not do shit for our secondary, it was marginally better than when we had the burnt toast and the bitch, Fletcher and Cary.
Most noticeably, when our defense had the chance, they looked insecure and crumbled most of the time. Falcons and fucking Kurt Cousins delivered game winning drives, the horrible Jets offense almost did too, a Cowboys offense mostly consisting of backups won the game for them, Carolina ran us over, Matt Cassel gave us huge problems and recently we let 2 horrible teams put 45 in the board.
The defense might be our best unit, but in no way does that say anything good about our defense, but speaks volumes of the offense and special teams.
The defense might have started out good, maybe even very good, but at no point did we look like a top 3 defense and we most certainly did not dominate anyone, with the exception of the horrible Saints, and to be fair, even getting crushed in the 1 game we got after the QB well, Brees put points and yards on the board.
Does anybody know if the coach and GM contract for Kelly are one in the same? Can Lurie relieve him of GM duties but still maintain him as coach, at which point it would be up to Kelly to accept and coach out his coaching contract, or decline and by quitting as coach Lurie is off the hook for the coaching contract the last two years?
I’m not sure if they are, but it doesn’t really matter either way. If you try to strip the GM duties from Kelly, he’ll leave. If that amounts to a firing we’ll have to pay him. Lurie has unlimited dollars to spend on that element of the team because there isn’t a coaching / front office staff salary cap.
You know this how?
Just logic, pretty sure he is exactly right.
I guess we see Kelly differently. If he can see he is treading in waters too deep, I think he will accept a lifeline. He may have a big ego, but he doesn’t strike me as one to put pride above succeeding.
The O-line really needs to be addressed. JP seems to be on his last legs. He’s old and starting to pile up the injuries. We really need another OT and of course the guards. If the O-line gets fixed, everything else will follow suit.
The defense on the other hand need to learn how to tackle. How do you play in the same backfield as Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas and not know how to tackle? And remember when we were excited for our ILB’s? Now they’re terrible. Not only do we need Jordan Hicks back healthy next season, we need another one of him too.
The season sucks, but that doesn’t mean that it’s lost (as far as finding out about guys). Rowe will get playing time. Maybe Agholor and Matthews get more time on the outside. I agree with Tommy on Peters, maybe even time to put him on IR and bring up Boyko or Bunchie.
Gotta play Marcus Smith. If he can’t play, fine. We have to find out. Might be a chance for Denzel Rice also.
When this year goes bad; it is always fun to scout for next year.
Rowe, ok, MSII terrible, Burton and Barner look better fit for the scheme than murray.
Marcus Smith played yesterday and it was a disaster
Unfortunately, we need to see this for an extended stretch. If he’s bad, then it is what it is. We thought Graham was a big time bust for a while there. BG is not great, but he is an NFL starter.
We had a chance to find out about guys when the season went downhill last year, and Kelly didn’t play them. I don’t think we’re going to see any staff or roster changes anytime soon.
Fair point. I hope that changes this year.
bmax probably didn’t have to tackle other people would tackle for him
Hicks should win DPOY based on how bad the defense has been without him.
The rest of the defense is the same from when we dominated teams (funny of quickly people think Davis is suddenly trash), but without Hicks this teams suddenly blow donkey ass on defense.
For the record, I never stopped calling the work of Davis as DC into question, so I’m more stubborn than hypocritical.
He’d won me over in the weeks before the tb game. In today’s league, I think a defense is successful if it consistently keeps opponents to 21-24 or below. He by and large had gotten there.
Not doubling megatron was unacceptable though. The passes were perfect and the catches were great, but that’s exactly why you can’t have a rookie running trail technique with no help over the top.
Yeah, there were a few of us who weren’t taken in when Tommy did the post a few weeks back about how great Davis was. Keeping Ryan Fitzpatrick in check doesn’t make you a great defense.
Well.. I am one of those people, who believed in Chip Kelly the coach. And I havent been overly concerned that the team has been spotty these last few years. I liked the hire of Chip, a succesful coach who dared do things differently, think outside the box and challenge norms. I expected there to be ups and downs and figured in the long run, things would come together. I think Lurie took a risk and went for greatness in stead of being concervative by hiring Chip, and I prefer that road. If it all goes down the drain, I will probably still think that Lurie made a good bet that just didnt come out well. Much like I still think the Sam Braford trade was a good bet, even though it hasnt panned out. Really, a second rounder is nothing to loose if there is a real chance you can find a good solution af QB. Even if its a small chance. You have to take some shots and risk failure if you want to get anywhere and get lucky with these things – this goes for coaches as well as QBs. And I dont think these shots have been completely foolish or destroyed the future of the team. …but the choice to make Kelly the GM might have. If we have to point to one thing that has really gone wrong with Kelly its the decisions on personel. As it stands we seem to have had pretty bad drafts and cut or lost a lot of productive players while signing underachieving free agents to expensive deals. I think Kelly is right when he says that the problem is excecution. I think its obvious that the players are simply not able to execute. I mean, Riley Cooper and Miles Austin cant get open. Thats not the fault of the scheme or the coaching or the QB or the players themselves. That falls squarely on the shoulders of the GM to handed both of them more money than he should and made them starters when they are supposed to be backups.
Chip Kelly is running the same plays every week regardless of who we face. He isn’t accounting for the opposing defenses strengths and weaknesses at all. He is terrible at exploiting matchups or feeding the hot hand.
I dont know if I agree with that. This scheme has been working very well for stretches of games so far. And I dont believe the scheme is the problem, at least not on offense. It doesnt matter what route concepts your run. As long as you run them with Riley Cooper and Miles Austin, you wont be succesful. I think Chip knows this, and that is why he is not getting more creative with playcalls. And yet, that swing pass to Murray in the flat makes me sick to my stomach so maybe you do have a point..
I honestly think Chip is in over is head. There is a bunch of tape on this team now and DCs are picking up.
His changes are too few and far. As much as hate Cooper, he can get open deep. the only thing besides blocking he’s good at, but we don’t throw the ball downfield anymore.
Austin should have been cute after the Miami game. I think Chip is holding back Huff and Agholor’s development.
I think Davis needs to be fired now
I still dont think that scheme is the problem. If we ran this scheme with Dez Bryant and Terrance Williams on the outside, Cole Beasley in the slot and a healthy Tony Romo at QB, I think Chips passing game would be terrific. Hell, throw McCoy in there to run those lateral stretch plays behind a pulling Evan Mathis and that would work too. Its the personel. They just cant do it.
Your scheme should fit the players you have…
it does shitty players = shitty scheme.
There is no scheme in professional football that fits Miles Austin and Riley Cooper.
I’m with everything you’ve said here about Cooper, Austin, the substitution patterns, and Davis.
I don’t mind the play calling because I’d more blame the O-line for not blocking well enough on run plays.
I think it’s more accurate to say that it’s both the scheme and the players–a lot of it comes down to the fit between the two. We’ve discussed how Peyton has run a pretty simple scheme, but it works for him because he’s been amazing at it. I think our scheme can work like this too, but it’s mostly built on a stellar run game, which in turn is really built on the o line. We all know our o line has been a mess (for various reasons).
I think chip has made some really good decisions as gm, but his treatment of the o line, both last offseason and when roseman was in charge, is the fundamental problem.
Though I do agree that more Austin/cooper and less sproles/Mathews is bad any way you look at it.
I don’t think Peters would have been hurt again yesterday if Kelce would do his job. Peters was rolled up from behind by a guy who blew right by Kelce. Kelce has been PUTRID this season.
Peters has become the king of tapping out of games… Going into this season, westbrook talked about how often JP taps out and doesn’t finish games, and at the time I didn’t think anything of it,,, then this season unfolds and westbrook was completely right….
..
If you are going to tap out of every single game, the least you can do is let Lane and Dennis Kelly take the first team reps all week…
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Cut every player over the age of 28, except for Bair, who deserves to play over taylor Hart
..
But the first two players that need to be cut are Miles Austin and Turnstile Tobin who is a complete Joke
You forgot Cooper. Maybe we can make a 2-for-1 cut deal with him and Austin.
Post game recap from Soundwave:
Megatron superior, Eagles’ pass defense inferior
http://static.seibertron.com/images/toys/uploads/1372680600_pTRU1-15104021enh-z6.jpg
Soundwave serves a lot of purposes.
OOooh, I had that one, loved him!
So Billy Davis pronounces Kelly will be back next year? Curious to see what Davis legimately think his own chances are coming back at this point.
God bless Davis. I don’t think the guy is very good from an adapting to conditions on the field and/or having the next man up ready to play well standpoint, but I appreciate his willingness to be up front and take questions. I wish him a long, lucrative, and productive career as a position coach on some other NFL team’s D staff.
Just isn’t a good defense coordinator. That much is clear now with the multiple opportunities he has had. Question is do who do the Eagles bring in to replace him and how much flexibility will that coordinator have to make tweaks.
Also who will want to come into a DC job where the head coach’s future is tenuous beyond next year.
If San Diego blows up the whole staff as part of moving the team; would you look at Pagano from their staff?
I would and/or I’d be interested in McCoy as the OC if he doesn’t get another HC job somewhere.
The Eagles were gifted with 10 days to head into the New England game with some changes. I’d hope that would be enough time to work out players at a few positions (WR, WR, WR, WR, WR, WR) and make a roster cut or two going into the New England game to get the attention of a few guys on this team. I don’t see any downside of cutting a player or two to get some people motivated to play better out of fear of losing their jobs.
Only downside I can think of is that New England will immediately sign up anyone we cut to pick their brains for intel, then dump them after our game.
Yes SHAKE UP. Problem here is that is pretty sound conventional logic. Chip will want nothing to do with that.
Any kind of pass rush would go a long way to helping this team’s porous pass defense. Barwin hasn’t been nearly as productive this year rushing the passer. Graham has done exactly what he was his entire career – close but no cigar and be ineffective for long stretches. Curry was misused early on and had struggled to find any kind of rhythm. If the Eagles should have traded someone, it was curry instead of Boykin while letting Jenkins and Bigger get beat a ton this year in the slot.
Finding a qb and dealing with the Ol the biggest issues but finding a pass rush is third on the list.
So taking a step back at the roster:
QB: Still no long term answer; that’s the centerpiece of a lot of our issues.
RB: Not productive enough and no young guy in the pipeline for the future.
WR: Young guys who could step up, but don’t see a clear #1 just year. Too much old dead weight in Cooper and Austin that needs to go.
TE: Celek is owned more money than he’s worth, Ertz hasn’t really turned the corner yet, and Burton (although promising) isn’t a guy around whom we can plan long term.
T: Peters is showing his age via frequent injury, Johnson is good at RT / not good (yet?) at LT, and Kelly is a functional enough backup for spot duty.
G: BAD, REAL BAD, TERRIBLE
C: Kelce has been a joke this season. He’s actually one of the two or three guys I’d most like to see ridiculed more often.
D-line: Too inconsistent in stopping the run and getting onto the passer. Cox hasn’t maintained his dominance from earlier in the year, Logan is also to week to week in terms of flashing, Bair/Allen/Hart are guys who fill out a roster, and Curry/Thorton are probably gone as FAs.
OLBs: Barwin is solid in everything you ask a guy to do. Graham, although I’d like a perennial 12+ sack guy at ROLB, is solid. Smith has been an empty uniform.
ILBs: Kendricks misses as many plays as he makes. Kiko looks terrible. Meco can’t run. Hicks looked great when he played, but his fragility showed up again and demonstrates why he was rated lower than where the Eagles took him in the draft.
S: Jenkins has been good, Thurmond has been a nice functional surprise, Maragos / Reynolds / Couplin are special teamers at this point.
CB: Maxwell has been far too up and down for what we’re paying him. Carroll won’t likely be back. Biggers is what you’d expect for a one year bottom of the roster guy. Rowe competes, but the people who said his skill set might be better for safety may be right.
K: Please come back healthy Cody Parkey! I don’t expect Sturgis to make as many FGs, but the lack of touchbacks is vile.
P: Donnie is solid.
LS: WTF is up with the magic man this year and his snaps? That position might need to be examined in the off-season as well.
So what this team lacks is: long term QB, 2 better o-lineman (at a minimum), true #1 WR, long term clarity at TE, consistent play from the d-line, sacks from the OLB group, competency from the ILB group, and more complete games from the DBs.
Only real dispute is at TE and WR. Hard for those guys to show anything right now. Not saying you aren’t right, just saying there is a chance Huff, Ags, JM, Ertz are all REALLY good. I also think Celek is an excellent TE and has been since we drafted him. If we wanted to throw him the ball 8 times a game I think he would preform. Obviously if we want him to be another T, he does that well too. For my money, he is every bit as good as Heath Miller.
I think the problems listed with defense fall more to blame on offense though. OTHER than the fact that there is no real pass rush.
it doesn’t surprise me that with the injuries and new faces that this has blown up a bit. It does give me pause for concern when you have a coach who preaches the mantra of culture yet his team doesn’t respond on the field to adversity, some of his key free agents including Murray and maxwell give questionable effort and intensity, and It appears there is a lack of player leadership.
How did Kelly misread the vibe on this team including the players he brought in and got rid of? Not so much that the players have quit per se but how this team just appears to have little fit or self-scrutiny and examination.
What really irks me going from last year to this year is that we have allowed several teams with significantly worse records than ours from 2014 to beat us and pass us this season. Atlanta, Carolina, Tampa, and Miami should have all been wins given that the “best” any of those teams were last year were 8-8. Allowing those teams to pass us in the standings (and head to head) is disgusting.
Sanchez
If Sanchez was the leader of the men at the Alamo, they would have shot him, surrendered, and begged Santa Ana for mercy.
Shocked to see how this team doesn’t respond to him and how for a guy who exudes confidence off the field lacks it on the field. Got ripped for that in ny and I see what they mean now.
I have never seen dudes react to any coach or player like they do Sanchez. Guys that you think of as good guys too. Sproles, Murray.
Billy D isn’t gonna smooth talk himself outta this one…
Let’s hope Kelly and Lurie alter the deal.
For those of you who know Chip’s history at Oregon….
How often did Chip make coaching changes? Was he ready to fire underperformers on the coaching staff?
We know he changed the DB coach this past offseason. Any evidence of him being willing to shake up the top level of the coaching staff?
Can we just change this site to a “Dallas sucks” theme. All I’m going to get happiness out of from here on out is Dallas losing
Chip isn’t going anywhere… He’s gotta build his team. So it’s gonna b a losing season… All the chuckle heads who proclaimed the Eagles as playoff contenders in the pre season were certainly drunk or delusional or near sighted or whatever… So it’s a down n r rebuilding year. The truth hurts… Get over it n dry your eyes. I’m disappointed too… But so what if Heath Evans is right this year… That guy is a douche n has an axe to grind for some reason. It’s not like anyone makes these guys pay for the 9 out of 10 times they get shit wrong… Whatever… It’s time to man up. Life’s not 1 season. And how can anyone judge anyone on their performance in anything after 11 months?? Meaning Chip as GM… the only move I found critical was not resigning Maclin n that was beyond his control. Sometimes I think about how bad it is to feel as a fan after losses… But think about how bad it must b for the players… To wake up for work n work your ass off to get beat again?? Ok I’m a bit drunk too… See ya
Actually going into this year it’s like the first time that the “chuckleheads” got it right…. The consensus opinion Wasnt that we would be a Super Bowl team, what we often heard was “this will either be a great 12 win team, or a horrible 5 win team, with No inbetween”… That’s exactly how this season played out..
Lol I’m not sure if we can win 1 more game… Maybe the Giants. What draft pick would that be??
I don’t even care…. It’s just a higher draft pick that we get to screw up…
I’m confident in CK’s draft skills… The fault with Reid was that he probably didn’t have confidence in his scout’s grades so he shot from the hip too often or overrode them or whatever… I don’t see that with CK.
From Reub’s 10 observations:
8. The Eagles have one takeaway during this three-game losing streak. And it was by Zach Ertz. That pretty much says it all.
Ouch.
http://www.csnphilly.com/football-philadelphia-eagles/10-observations-eagles-lions-0
It’s so bad that I can’t even get mad any more…this is a special type of disjunction to make a passionate life long eagle fan who bleeds green, to no longer care
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Never seen a team completely quit and lose all faith in themselves and their coaches while they were in second place of their division with 5 games to go, and full control of our own destiny..
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I can’t get upset anymore when no one in that “culture club” of a locker room seems to care…
Yeah anger is long since gone. Apathy and hopelessness. Been there a while.
If we think this is bad, wait Til the Patriots destroy us, and then shady is going to come back here and talk so much shit about The mess chip created… And if that isn’t bad enough, Bruce Arians who was ripping Chips college scheme two years ago is going to put a beating on us..
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And then it’s time for Desean to sound off on the mess chip created…
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At least Chip and Sanchez set the bar incredibly low for Bradfords return
Ugh.
I mean lets be real. When the Patriots whip that ass 45-14, its gonna feel a lot better than when the dregs do it.
Does anyone think one of the problems with this defense is that their legs are gone from being on the field so much from this putrid offense we have?
Yes EVERYONE!
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Even if there legs aren’t dead, they are demoralized from having to not only overcome opposing offenses every week. But also have to overcome the extra strain our negligent coach puts on the defense
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For majority of the season Defense was the strength of this team. Instead of chip playing to our defensive strength, the defense had to fight to beat the opponent, and fight to overcome the extra stress this coach offense puts on them
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I don’t ask for much, but at the very least run an offense that compliments our defense, instead of an offense that our defense has to overcome
100% agree. Believe me, I’ll be ecstatic if I never see an inside zone read again or any of the 3 other plays Kelly runs over and over and over again!
Now that we are in year 3 and defensive coordinators understand what chip is doing, Id be fascinated to give one of our opposing coaches truth Syrum and ask them how much easier it is to prepare for chips Eagles, than it is to prepare to normal coaches who’s playbook ISNT the size of a pamphlet.
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I imagine it takes much less time to study the eagle tendencies than other coaches who use more than 3 different formations,,.
Chips playbook reminds me of the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode where Larry David is ripping his friend because the “book” he wrote was really the size of a pamphlet..
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Would love to see a curb your enthusiasm episode where Larry questions Chip Kelly about all his bonehead decisions making a mess of the Eagles that lack common sense
Reminds me of playing techmo bowl as kid! Joking aside, how could you not game plan for your opponent? How could an NFL team not do that? I imagine it does, how many formations could you have out of shotgun with 4 plays?
i don’t think there’s much to do on offense. We cant’ run the ball. So if we go 3 and out in 40 seconds, or in 1.5 minutes we’re still going 3 and out. The D has to get off the field. It’s been the same way for 3 years.
I think that is definitely a big factor, but let’s not forget they have a habit of dropping INTs thrown right to them too. As people were saying near the start of the season, get off the field on 3rd down and you won’t be as tired.
Fire Chip Today and hand control of the team over to Seth Joyner lol. Doubt Seth will help us win games, but at the very least he will demand toughness and nastiness and would have no problem Fist Fighting his players for being soft pussies..
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A head coach who fist fights his players….. Can’t be any worse than it is now..
It’s pretty clear the team has “given up” on the coaching regime, especially the defense. It was a long time coming, as many observers have noted. Chip’s practices, ways, and scheme simply put too much pressure on the defense. Davis and Chip’s refusal/inability to make in game and/or weekly adjustments (refusal to use double coverage, etc.) I’m sure has frustrated players as well. With the offense struggling this year, and poor play by players with big contracts, it all came crashing down.
The Miami game seems to have been the turning point. Some was said or done (or not said or done) during the game or in the days after the game.
The defensive players have had enough. They are mentally done and even perhaps physically done.
If Chip is going to stay, he’s going to have to make some major adjustments to his scheme. Defenses can carry teams with mediocre offenses, but it could be (and is) argued that Chip’s tempo scheme hurts the defense when the offense is bad.
Maybe with a better OL and therefore run game all would be solved. But I think Chip is going to have to tweak his sytem to survive in the NFL. Not sure he has time to do so in Philly.
people make so much of this D being tired stuff. Book look at STL, TX, Jets before last year. Teams w/ terrible offenses, those defenses still come out and play even though offense puts up zero points. It’s just a narrative. D is getting beat from the second drive on. Getting smashed coming out of half time. We can’t scheme ANY pressure.
I think it’s more of a mental thing. With Chip continuing with the tempo – resulting in regular, quick “three and outs” – the defense “mentally” checked out, not physically.
For me, the anamolous (historically bad) Tampa and Detroit gams serve as evidence. The defense has had its struggles and injuries, but their historically bad play against medicore offenses speaks loudly to mental/morale issues. Especially considering we are still technically in the mix for post-season play.
They have mentally checked out, and i think its due to Chip’s continued use of tempo despite offense’s struggles.
All you need to know about chips phylisophical failures is that yesterday there was a stretch of the game where chip continued the dumb tempo when his offense couldn’t gain a first down, and we had 5 three and outs, for a combined total of 3 minutes on the field…. So basically, 5 series in a row, the defense got on average, about 40 seconds on the sideline to rest before chips insanity put them right back on the field… The defense is struggling, offense can’t gain a first down, and you don’t even bother slowing it down? Which basically says that chip made the game into a shootout, with a defense that was stopping NO ONE, a backüp QB, starting LT out of the game, no ryan mathews, ERTZ or JP, and this Genius tried to get into a shoutout yesterday. When any coach with a brain would have done the opposite, slowed it down as much as possible and try to cut down the amount of possessions in the game..
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The defense was our strength, and this coach doesn’t even try to play to our strength, instead he makes it harder on the defense.
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THe key player on our offense is demarco Murray (chip gave him big money).. Even if Demarco(our best player in) is having success running out of shotgun, everyone KNOWS Shotgun ISNT the BEST position to put our big money RB in…. So even when we have success, we still aren’t putting our best players in the best position..
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Minus the mobile QB element, when you pay more than ANYONE for RBs, and Murray/Ryan are the strength of this offense with a bunch of your WRs, and Murray/Mathews are Power RBs, if you were actually putting our players in the best position, our offense should look something like the MIke Shulas Panthers offense with Powerbacks Jonathon Stewart and Mike Tolbert, minus the mobile QB element of course….. Mike Shula has Cam Newton, the best Read option QB in the game, yet you don’t see MIke Shula asking Stewart and Tolbert to exclusively run out of Shotgun. Why? Because that’s not the best position to put those Rbs in… They show some Read option, but it’s a wrinkle for them, not the fucking basis of their offense..
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We can’t cut Demarco, he will be back Next year, can we please design an Offense that excentuates the talents of Murray? Im also Jealous of MIke Shulas OL, POWER blocking. See how they dominated Bennie Logan? KElce is a key player for us, understanding he lacks size and Power, wouldn’t it be smart to protect KElce with Powerful Guards on either side of him? I sick of sacraficing so much Power in the name of Mobility.
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murray is too expensive to cut, but Demarco ISNT the BUM we see in Chips offense. He has plenty of game and ability, why wouldnt we run what fits him best?
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So many great creative Run plays I see The Panthers and Tampa use, yet I have to watch Eagles backs ignore all the different ways to attack defenses and sit in shotgun all game long..
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My beef ISNT with Shotgun, pick ANY formation and I still don’t want to see us run out of one formation all game… I can’t even imagine how easy it must be to prepare for the Eagles tendencies in year 3 than it is to prepare for normal teams that Lineup in more than 3 different formations.
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So many great formations and concepts that have stood the test of time and been successful against NFL defenses, and we ignore all of it to Lineup every week and run the same 5 plays out of 3 different formations…
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ZERO ACCOUNTABILITY is the biggest problem and why we have no chance to salvage this season. no one is in danger of being Benched, No one is in Danger of being innactive, and definitely no one is in any danger of being cut or Fired… After Miles Austin has managed to make us miss JAmes Thrash and Torrence Small the past two weeks, chip still has him on th field on key 3rd downs and we even try to throw him the ball…. What do we expect?
—–“All you need to know about chips phylisophical failures is that yesterday there was a stretch of the game where chip continued the dumb tempo when his offense couldn’t gain a first down, and we had 5 three and outs, for a combined total of 3 minutes on the field…. So basically, 5 series in a row, the defense got on average, about 40 seconds on the sideline”—-
One game… one game. The only time he hasn’t done that.
If Chip had any balls, after the Miami game, he would have gathered the entire team for a team video session, and on the big screen, show the entire team video of the big money star runningback, sliding to avoid contact with a cornerback, and chew Demarcos ass out for being such a pussy in front of the team, and right then and there announce that Murray will be innactive for the Tampa Bay game,,,, maybe his players would actually respect him today..
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Tgen Chip should put the video on of the same Miami Game, Miles Austin clearly going thru the motions, not even looking for the ball in hopes that the QB WOULDNT throw to him, and right there Waive Miles Austin in front of the entire team..
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Losing is one thing, but when your players see that there is ZERO accountability. You can’t expect them to respect you…. If you think this isn’t a big deal, had chip held Murray accountable, I bet you wouldng hear annonymous players go to the media and talking about how murray slid amd quit on them
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I always figured there would be a lot chip still needed to learn and evolve/adjust some of his philosophy to pro game, but Im baffled as to how he failed so miserably in so many areas this year… All those military books he reads and he has no balls to hold anyone accountable and make the innactive for one game? Prefer accepting this soft, loser,CULTURE cultivated on His Watch?
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Why do I even bother? We have decades of Intel that says no chance LURIE fires ANYONE łet alone chip after their first bad season… So nothing will change. Only hope is that this face plant forces chip to make changes, but he is so stubborn and lost that I don’t have faith in that happening either
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“devil in Sheeps clothing”… “false Prophet”
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We drank the Kool Aid, and it turned out to be a poisoned Mass Suicide straight up Cult style…
Players quit… Bradfird should fake an injury. He is going to get himself Maimed coming back to play with a team that has quit…. Seriously, I’m afraid for Bradford, hope he suffers some minor setback and has to sit out the Pats, Bills and Cardinals game… I see him take enough beatings this year
No. We need Bradford back to get a better sense of how he is in this offense. Note that our collapse did coincide with the Bradford injury against Miami. Was a large part of that drop off due to Sanchez or would it have happened anyway? Probably some combination of the two. But since there’s a good chance Sammy and Chipper are back next year, get him more reps. Play the young un’s at other spots, get ready for next year.
f*ck next year lol. Nothing ever gets accomplished until we have a real QB with a set of balls, which is what Donovan was lacking. It’s sad our greatest franchise QBs are Jaws and McNabb….its a QB league, its a QB league, its a QB league, period.
Guys, the difference between Sanchez and Bradford is just not that large. We are debating angels on a pinhead here. But maybe that did break the camel’s back. Either way, we’re not going to Heaven this year.
**two different flavors of baddish/mediocre**
Sam Bradford career rating: 79.8
Mark Sanchez: 74.3
***good quarterbacks follow**
Tony Romo: 97.1
Tom Brady: 96.5
Big Ben: 94.0
Drew Brees: 95.7
Rodgers: 105.1
I usually agree with you man but I can’t on this point. Bradford has not shown anything that warrants the team sitting him. He has to play no matter what to see what the team has in him to see if he’s worth bringing back next year.
Maybe they quit because it was Sanchez.
It feels like the entire NFC East is paying back on bad karma from the Hardy signing.
QB situations i do not envy in the league….. SF, HOU, CLE. This is literally the kind of company we are keeping in the league right now, I’d rather have RGIII&Cousins over our pile of garbage Mexican&SerialKillerLookingMoFoBradford. I’d actually probably be even ok with the Manziel&McCown duo for f*cks sake.
Josh McCown Rating: 95.2 Rating /11TD/4INT, Bradford: 82.4/11TD/10INT.
JM is good, he’s just 40yrs old. Put up better numbers than nick during 27/2
its bad that we are in the lower 15% of QB envy lol
Rambling: I am looking back over the past schedule trying to make sense of the last couple of games for the defense. What changed for a team that was holding opponents to 25 ppg to one allowing 45? How could a good D go to historically bad D just like that?
It is not a clear picture. The first complicating factor is that we have played mostly bad or mediocre teams. Not until we played the Panthers was there a legitimately good team.
BUT, the offense was bad. Yards per play, 3rd down %, QB rating, and points were all poor, TOP the lowest in the league. So, even though holding mediocre teams to around 20 PPG is not that impressive, it is more so given that the D was carrying the team.
In the last few weeks, a bad offense has been hit by some injuries. Lost the starting QB (who was never that good to begin with), but also to other starters. OL reshuffled once again, the good RB out, TE out.
To compound that, we lost Hicks, who had obviously been playing well, and were forced to put in Kiko, who was not ready.
Unfortunately, it seems that Chip felt that even with the drop in talent level with these injuries (from average to below average), that TOP still doesn’t matter, that the same playcalls should be used, that a fast pace is the way to go. But as most football fans know, the strategy for a bad team is to slow things down. Speeding up a disadvantage just compounds the effects of that problem, giving the better team more chances to exert their superiority.
So one way to look at this mess:
D somewhat overrated due to poor competition
a bad O got worse
coach continued to do the exact thing bad teams shouldn’t
D got worn out
Does that entirely explain how a team that scored 10 points against the Cowboys scored 45 against us? Or how a team that scored 18 against the Raiders hung 45 on us? Well, not so much.
on defense it’s generally sloppy play in the run game. it’s what we were seeing during andy’s last year. Our run D was good b/c LBs played their gaps we rallied and tackled. LBs are TERRIBLE right now. MJ isn’t tackling and we’re getting run on. It all devolves from there.
The Tampa and Detroit games were more than just sloppy play. There is clearly a psychological/morale issue at play here, i.e., players “quitting” on Chip, or Chip “losing the locker room.”
Chip’s tempo scheme has always put extra pressure on defense. More time on the field, less rest between series.
When the offense was good to great (years 1-2) this justified Chip’s tempo scheme. However, this year offense has struggled (for a number of reasons) but Chip continues with tempo scheme.
Defense becomes overwhelmed. Miami game was tipping point. Then the mental, human element become a factor and you have the Tampa and Detroit games.
There are other issues too, Davis out-coached on 3rd and long all three years and FAs playing poorly. But ultimately, the defense “quit” on Chip due to his lack of adjustments.
I could easily see how the Miami game could be the straw that broke the psyche of the defense.
“It doesn’t matter what we do, the offense is going to make us lose”.
I still think that defense could easily be elite. If Chip stays, I think he has to take his shot at a new QB next year, but make them compete with Sanchize. If Sanchize wins (or a Rookie), tailor the team to the defense.
To edit.. not Sanchez. If there is a similar type of vet out there, add them and dump the guy. He is really likeable, but really bad. The bad taste he has left between this season and last needs to be removed.
Kurt Coleman: Tied for the League lead with 5 INTs.
funny how talent can be found when you have decent unit overall
Safety’s first responsibility is the run, how can you blame the safety? I always liked Kurt, but that is a fluke number.
are the eagles dealing with football karma for signing a cheater from Oregon who thinks running plays quickly will get you to the super bowl…..
surprised that tommy ‘chip’ lawlor didn’t add a caution not to overreact to the last 2 historically bad losses.
the coach is clueless, he can’t evaluate NFL talent, he can’t overrule the d-coordinators obvious mistakes, he won’t change his approach, he is an arrogant overmatched fat little fraud……#firethata-hole
Byron Maxwell: Overpaid joke of a CB, got paid because he has long arms and Chip likes long arms because duh that would only make sense for a CB in Madden Franchise Mode.
Kiko: injury waiting to happen
Kendricks: waste of a good billboard on I-95 and also millions of dollars, would have traded his ass for Mariota, also only good for 12 games a year.
Cox: He is gonna have his career wasted here, like Romo’s in Dallas. Should have traded his ass for Mariota also. At this point having a dominant DE in a 3-4 scheme seems more like a luxury than a necessity.
Jordan Matthews: dude can’t catch syphilis and he is a pro-athlete.
Nelson Agholor: Worse than Marquise Lee, USC skill players are fools gold. Could have traded this pick/guy for Mariota.
Eric Rowe: Byron Jones will be 5x greater. Should have traded this pick for Mariota.
OL: Without Jason Peters we have a 100% Caucasian OL, of course we are gonna suck.
Jordan Hicks: Would have traded this pick also if need be, because this guy would have never seen the field if DeMeco/Kiko/Kendricks panned out like they were supposed to, hence Hicks is like having 22″ rims on a 1999 Mercury Sable.
Solar Panels on Linc: Those things life expectancy is 25 years, just in time for them to get paid off lol
“OL: Without Jason Peters we have a 100% Caucasian OL, of course we are gonna suck.” awesome.
it’s really looking like we should have taken b. jones first and any WR second, but i can’t understand chip wanted a maclin clone.
did you see my Jordan Matthews analysis?
iiked that one too.
Would love to debate most of your points as invalid, but having a White O-line comment really takes the zeal out of me to reply. Not because I think its racist, just because of how stupid of a remark it is.
trying to make light of the Chip kelly is racist joke/rhetoric, I’m sure Shady would agree and also lets not act like the league is a total 50/50 split among races…. also I’m asian so in actuality i am just waiting for the white/black race wars to get so bad that asians can finally control the world and move humanity in the right direction lol
Make light, be funny. Just try to have a little intelligence with it. If you said that there were 3 white pass catchers, and when he resigns Mahel the world would end, I would chuckle.
Of all the positions in the NFL, offensive line would draw no correlation to race and success. I thought most of your points were poor attempts at humor that actually had no hidden merit (as my example would). I just pointed out the one that really made me imagine you in a dunce cap.
I agree, I am all for white people jokes, but the OL is about the last place that would work. Usually positions that require jumping, occupations that require dancing or rhythm, are acceptable joke fodder. However, Asians really shouldn’t make jokes about dancing ability, so be careful there.
…because you are white?
I mean you are asking a question I already answered.
You should have mentioned the ‘caucasian’ comment earlier so I could have saved reading most of your comment.
if you can’t joke about racism then i assume you have an issue with race that makes you uncomfortable, i am asian so in reality i care less about white/blacks because both of ya’ll screw the entire world up lol
Let’s have a Cultural Revolution! What could go wrong?
It didn’t sound like a joke first time I read it. The second time neither. Never mind.
to all butt-hurt by Caucasian comment, I am Asian. I am farthest thing from being PC. If it hurts your feelings talking about the actual percentage split of African Americans to Caucasians in the NFL then you are obviously not asian because you obviously don’t look at any numbers lol, in light of that it was a joke because racism i the only area in society where racism can even be breached without sphincters shrinking up.
Charles Barkely is probably loving the fact that a guy like Chip is failing, turrible.
i actually really like Barkley, but over the years of watching him on tv there is one thing i notice about him, and that is the fact that the dude is wrong about literally everything he predicts or says. Especially in basketball, he’s like a mush
I think the roster was a mess and other than not getting good value in trade, not many problems with decisions.
Not sure how the fan base would have reacted to fire sale and full rebuild.
at this point we are all fans of fire.
You get another OL, and lots of good parts. That is assuming there isn’t a qb.
Really like the wr group. A good couple of S and maybe a DE.
I think the talent on this team is pretty damn good, save the O-line and QB.
At least it seems that Chip has finally figured out that he has to take the blame, even if it isn’t completely his fault. As minuscule as it seems to us, players pay attention it seems. Player LOVED Andy. He always took the brunt, and would be more subtle in his calling out of players.
Chip, much like myself, was never wrong in the past.
The NFL learning curve is about more than Xs and Os. I would submit that not taking foot off gas re offensive tempo was also “noticed” by defensive players. (It certainly has been by the media.) Right or wrong, I think it negatively impacted the defense’s morale.
(I also wonder how Sanchez is regarded by the players? Noticable drop off in effort once he entered line up. Recall the fast ball at Cooper last year.)
I was just trying to point out one semi-good thing. You could go on and on and on about the bad (scroll through I think I have in other comments).
So I didn’t really get to see the game, but I was listening to a little Philly talk radio on the way back home… Eric Rowe was getting singled up on Megatron? Shouldn’t Maxwell have been following him everywhere once Nolan got hurt?
Rowe Island
Ill be honest, even though he was getting schooled, he had really good coverage on Megatron. Unfortunately when the QB puts the ball in the perfect place for Megatron, there is nothing you can do. I will count that as a bright spot.
Agreed. I’m not mad at Rowe one bit. Its not like he’s been getting a lot of snaps. Chip treats rookies like redshirt freshmen
On that back shoulder TD, it could not have been covered any better.
Maxwell Island is rather easy to escape for any decent WR.
Pestilence, War, Famine and 3rd Down.
romo, Manning, Cousins, Kelly…
Death
Re: Future Expectations
Any discussion about where the Eagles are headed should begin, I think, with this question:
“Last January, what did Kelly tell Lurie to expect in 2015 during Y-1 of the Kelly-as-GM era?”
For example, Kelly may have said the Eagles are a trade for Sam Bradford, plus finding a new RB to replace the E-W running of McCoy, away from a deep playoff run.
Or maybe Kelly told Lurie, “Not having GM power since day 1 set back my program by 2 years at least . . . so some rough seas ahead. Be prepared.”
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As fans, the Eagles franchise — from Lurie down to Kelly — never put out signals that 2015 could be a rocky season.
No official indication (as some commenters argue) that 2015 would be a “rebuilding” year — rather than a “retooling” of an otherwise very good team.
I don’t remember hearing Kelly use any coach-speak to describe 2015 as a rebuilding year. Things like, “we have some young guys out there, they’ll find their footing” or “we still have room to grow as a team.” Or any other cliche.
And getting older and more expensive is generally not associated with “rebuilding.”
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Maybe Lurie and Kelly don’t care about managing the fans’ expectations.
I’m quite sure Kelly doesn’t give a damn what anyone thinks — not even Lurie.
And Lurie doesn’t answer to anyone but himself. He speaks publicly only twice per season about the team — once at training camp, when everyone is as optimistic as springtime, and once after the final game, when — short of a title — it’s all about “self-evaluation.”
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So what’s the future for Kelly?
Kelly may decide — like Nick Saban (whom I think will turn up in Indy in 2016) — that life’s too short to deal with not having a franchise QB.
Or Kelly — despite his lack public allusions to rebuilding — may have been prepared for a step-back season.
And Lurie?
All depends on the expectations Kelly set back in January.
I agree that part of the evaluation is dependent on what was said behind closed doors in terms of expectations. With that said, you also have to look at the gambles that Chip made and the outcomes of those gambles. Even if the mindset was it will take a few years, that might mean the team as a whole is taking steps back, but the individual players are adding to the team towards the future. Right now, I’m not sure there are many moves that were made last season that we should be super excited about going into next season. Without the promise of progress, even low expectations this season isn’t an excuse Chip can rely on.
Roob: Lurie wants a coach who is a classy, likeable front man for the organization, and Kelly has been anything but.
Really? I liked Andy myself, but never saw him as anything near a gladhander.
Read more at http://www.phillymag.com/birds247/2015/11/27/eagles-wake-up-call-billy-davis-disastrous-defense/#FpiaYoqbiF86c4bT.99
Re: 1968 Patriots
T-Law quoted an ESPN tweet that “The 2015 Eagles and the 1968 Patriots are the only teams to lose consecutive games to teams below .500 by at least 28 points.”
Those ’68 Pats — playing a 14-game season — actually started 3-3.
Then the wheels came off, as they finished 4-10.
Probably rooting for losses at this point (which means we will win). Just tired of being in QB purgatory. Plus we have many other needs. We haven’t had a top pick since Lane, and it was in such a weak class.
Agree with Tommy regarding Romo – he should not have been out there if all it took was one hit to send him out again. Talk about non-founded expectations…The entire Cowboy front office REALLY think they had a shot at running the table? enough of a shot to jeopardize their franchise QB?
What’s worse is so did everyone else. There’s no good reason why they should have been 1-pt favorites in that game.
I did not watch the game, I was with extended family. I hate to admit it but I have never been so relaxed not watching an Eagles game. I have been a fan since I went from the Staubach Cowboys to White Cowboys. Danny seemed to whine too much and all I had then was the newspapers to read, I could only imagine him today. Anyway, I have seen many different coaches but this one just felt wrong from the start. I work with very few Eagles fans, I am in Skins country, and all of them said I was wrong. I could still be and hope I am wrong about my feeling because when this offense was clicking, it was the most fun I had watching since the Ryan defense days and waiting to see what Randall would do next. Maybe I have just gotten old but entertainment, and this is just entertainment for fans, should be fun. There haven’t been too many fun teams since 2004. I will wait and see if Chip is really the coach others thought he was when he was hired. I do believe he will be here next year unless the rest of the year is like the last two games. If he isn’t, who is the new coach? Not mush out there. A few retreads and plenty of unknowns. Have a Merry Christmas and a safe and healthy start to your new year.
did i see something about Chip not wanting to use double coverage ever?
They used double coverage against Dallas. That’s how Beasley kept burning us, we had two guys on Witten and Dez at various points.
They also doubled ODB in the first Giants game.
1. GM should instruct HC to tell actual OC to delegate offense play calling to nominal OC.
2. GM should remind HC that he has responsibility for not just the offense but also the defense.
3. HC should allow nominal OC to be the one with his nose stuck in the play chart for the whole game while HC manages the whole team.
4. HC should, at the least, only allow DC to make defensive game plan and delegate in-game play calling to another defensive coach. Ideally, DC should be gone yesterday, but HC won’t imbarrass him that way in season. Just do it; no one needs to know.
5. HC should fire Quality Control Coaches on both sides of the ball (it’s OK no one knows who they are) and replace them with “Watson”, IBM’s analytical system to chart our tendencies on both sides of the ball.
6.GM should buy those blue tablets that are ubiquitous on many sidelines and use them during the game; if Eagles already have them, HC should instruct everyone to take them out of the box and use them during game.
7. Real OC should tell QB to always stick his nose in blue tablet when seating on bench after his 3rd interception; the blank stare while seeming to contemplate his naval is a poor visual for national TV.
When I read the part about the blue tablets, those weren’t the kind of tablets I was thinking of. I couldn’t figure out how everyone popping a Viagra, then trying to run around in tight pants and protective cups was going to improve things.
Interesting view point – could solve problem of not being “up” for the beginning of game.
It is ok everyone. Soon we will be seeing a Ghost and a Russian playing on the same line together! Flyers by a million! BOOK IT
Still mad that Miles Austin was allowed to take the flight back to Philly
Jaylen Watkins is back
At least it isn’t Danny.